For most of us, hiccups are rather annoying, but luckily they are short-lived. In severe cases they can last for a few days, which sounds like a LOT.
But next time you’re struggling through a symphony of involuntary gasps, think of a man named Charles Osbornewho suffered from social inconveniences for a staggering 68 years.
At June 13, 1922When young Osborne was working on a farm in Nebraska, he got the hiccups during an encounter with a pigand he didn’t stop until 1990.
More on that shortly. But why do we get hiccups and can anything stop them?
hiccup They are believed to start with a neural pathway denoted as a reflex arc. The physical experience involves an involuntary contraction respiratory tract muscles, and the opening between the vocal cords – the glottis – closes abruptly, making the recognizable “gulp” sound.
Things that can induce labor cause hiccupsB. drinking too much alcohol, overeating or breathing in air while chewing, some medications or even excitement and laughter.
Hiccups can occur singly or in groups with a fairly regular rhythm. Production from four to 60 per minute. Not much is known about why they occur, however we even get hiccups in the wombsuggesting that this might prime our muscles for breathing.
The medical name for the phenomenon is singultusfrom the Latin term Singular, That’s pretty much catching your breath as you sob, and that probably feels very appropriate and relevant when you’re in the midst of a singultus attack.
Some common remedies These include drinking or gargling cold water, breathing into a paper bag, holding your breath, and even hypnosis or acupuncture. There is no evidence that any of these are effective or safe. get someone to do it scare or tickle you may distract you but probably won’t stop the hiccups.
Probably the only cure there is promised promise is a special straw (appropriately called HiccAway) that has been developed by a neurologist in recent years. In early evaluations90 percent of people found HiccAway more effective than any home remedy, but more and more solid studies are needed.
Normal, normal cases of hiccups usually go away without intervention and only with patience. Prolonged hiccups, however, should be taken more seriously.
Chronic hiccups – Term for persistent (more than 48 hours) or unsolvable (more than a month) Seizures – can not only be distressing and causative exhaustion And weight lossthey could indicate a serious underlying cause.
That could be Central nervous system disorders, diabetes, surgery, reflux, strokeor Cancerto name a few.
If you have chronic hiccups, it is important to see a doctor Research could reveal more about the cause. A little study found that 80 percent of patients with chronic hiccups had abnormalities in the esophagus or stomach, and two-thirds of those cases were treatable.
a review of proposed drug treatments for chronic hiccups did not yield enough evidence to support each other, suggesting that each individual case matters. Determine and Treatment of the underlying medical cause seems to be the most useful.
In a rare case For three weeks the only symptom I had was hiccups This led to a patient presenting to the emergency room. It turned out that he had suffered a heart attack another patient with hiccups for four days.
A musician in England Had the hiccups once for about three years; Eventually, doctors determined that the cause was a brain tumor, and surgery corrected the case.
Poor Osborne wasn’t so lucky, however.
Despite visits to several doctors, no cure for his hiccups could be found. It is reported that a doctor tried to stop them with carbon monoxide and oxygen, but Osborne could not breathe safely. He reportedly lived his life in good spirits and learned a breathing technique to minimize the “hiccup” sound.
In February 1990 Osborne’s hiccups stopped abruptly for an unknown reason. He died in May 1991, after what must have been a somewhat wonderful and hiccup-free year.
He had experienced an estimated 430 million hiccups in his lifetime.
